Structure Iceland

The Icelandic Massage Association (F.Í.H.N.) was founded in june 1974. The association is committed to safeguard the interests of its members by promoting progress and creating a strong professional standard for massage in Iceland.

The founding members were 23 but in 2016 the F.Í.H.N. members were 210. The association was founded by Ólafur Þór Jónsson, he was also the first chairman. The practical part of massage education in Iceland was run by F.Í.H.N. from 1992 until 2013 when the massage study became a state run education in Fjölbraut í Ármúla.

The professional massage therapist title (the title in Icelandic being “heilsunuddari”) is not formally protected by law, as it often is with other comparable professions, however, the program is approved by the Icelandic Ministry of Education. A lot of effort has been put into getting this formal legal protection of professional title to no avail. This is the associations chief objective in the hopes that it will help maintain a proper standard for professional massage and make massage more accessible to the public.